Enugu government seeks to stop maternal, infant mortality  

Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has reiterated his administration’s commitment to put an end to maternal and infant mortality in the state. The governor who expressed displeasure with the high rate of maternal and new born mortality rate in the state, stressed  that strategic programmes must be put in place to curb the menace, through a collective effort.

READ ALSO:Anambra, UNICEF Train Health Workers To Reduce Maternal, Infants’ Deaths

Mbah made this known while declaring  open a Five-Day Train the  Trainers. (TOT) for Doctors/ Nurses on Maternal  and New Born Care organised by the state Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in Enugu.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a restorationist, nontrinitarian Christian denomination belonging to Mormonism. The church is headquartered in the United States in Salt Lake City, Utah and has established congregations and built temples worldwide.

Mbah, represented by his Deputy, Ifeanyi Ossai, lauded the past deputy governor of  Enugu state, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo for her efforts in attracting the Latter Day Saints Church to partner with Enugu state government in the development of  various sectors in the state.

“We must deal with this problem and eradicate it and as a  government, we are working with  strategic partners to ensure that every person in Enugu state will be covered by health insurance scheme.”

He added that tools were needed, adding that  when they had  the tools, personnel to operate the tools would also be needed, hence the essence of the training.

“We are dealing with the problem by  reviewing  what has happened  in the past and we are trying to build on the success of the past government. The  government  in  Nigeria in the past 20-25 years, approached developments in a particular way but we will do things differently,” Mbah said .

He stressed the importance of the training, noting that the participants should be the medical personnel who had direct contact with the  patients and not those in administration.“If we must succeed, we must get the  right approach. The training of this nature should have participation of people who are the actual healthcare providers of our citizens,”  he said.

The governor directed the ministry of health to immediately  enlist  medical doctors and nurses  to be part of the training, pointing out that  they were the people who treated the patients. ” You cannot restrict such a training to directors in the ministry, to Chief Medical Directors who run the administration of hospitals. We need people who deal with our patients, so they can get the training,” the governor said. He equally  noted that they were  people who could train others and use that training in their operations .

“It cannot be business as usual. Our approach in  government is to be direct, to save cost, but above all, to  have impact in whatever decisions we have made,” he added.

He also thanked the Church  for their support and urged them to sustain their interest for the state, promising that the Enugu state government would continue to partner with them to build a stronger relationship.

Earlier, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Dr Chidi Udechi said the Church ,through its charity arm had partnered Enugu state government for more than six years .

He added that they worked with Ezeilo and had renovated over 15 health centres and provided  over 25 boreholes. He thanked the governor  for sustaining Enugu state government’s  partnership with the church. He expressed confidence that the programme would  help in reducing  the rate of  maternal and infant mortality in the state.

Wumi/NAN